The Apostolic College

'Are you working already?' ' Eh! We fishermen sleep like the fish: at anytime, anywhere, but only as long as they let us rest. And one gets used to it. This morning I heard the door squeak at dawn and I said: "Simon, She is already up. Be quick! Go and help Her with your strong hands." I thought She might be worrying about Her flowers in such a windy night. And I was not wrong. Eh! I know what women are like!... My wife also tosses about in her bed, like a fish in the net, when there is a storm and she worries about her plants... Dear woman! Sometimes I say to her: "I bet you do not toss so much when your Simon is thrown about like a straw on the lake!" But it is not fair because she is a good wife. It seems impossible that her mother is... Well, be quiet, Peter. That's got nothing to do with it. It is not right to grumble and imprudently to tell people what out of kindness we should not mention. See, Master, Your word has entered also my stubborn head!' Jesus replies laughing: ' You are saying everything yourself. I can but approve and admire your wisdom as a farmer.' ' He has already tied all the shoots that had come loose, he has supported the pear tree that is too heavily laden and he placed those ropes under that pomegranate tree that is growing all on one side' says Mary. ' Yes! It looks like an old Pharisee; It leans to the side that suits it. And I straightened it up as if it were a sail and I said to it: "Don't you know that you must keep to a happy medium? Come here, you blockhead, or you will crash down because of your excessive weight." Now I am working at this fig tree. But out of selfishness. I am thinking of everybody's appetite: fresh figs and new bread! Ah! Not even Antipas has such a good meal! But I must be careful because the branches of a fig tree are as tender as a young girl's heart when she says her first words of love and I am heavy and the best figs are at the top. They have already been dried by the early sun. They must be delicious. Eh! Boy. Don't stand there looking at me. Wake up! Give me that basket.'